Developers Of Indie Game Darq Explains Why They Rejected A Deal With The Epic Games Store

Developers Unfold Games, have revealed that they recently rejected a deal to put their indie game Darq on the Epic Games Store.

On a blog post on Medium, the developers revealed that they have been contacted by Epic Games to have their horror title on the store, but has refused the offer.

“On July 27th (Saturday) I uploaded a new trailer announcing Steam launch date,” the blog reads. “On July 30th (Tuesday) I was contacted by the Epic Store, proposing that I enter into an exclusivity agreement with them instead of releasing DARQ on Steam.”

The offer includes upfront payment and a guarantee of sales, which Epic themselves will pay out of their pockets to match an agreed sales target- which we have known from such examples like Ooblets. The developers for that game announced their Epic exclusivity deal around the same time.

Unfold Games decided to reject the offer immediately before any discussions about money had started. The biggest reason is that the game is already listed for Steam since 2018, and is among the top 50 most wishlisted game on the platform at the time near release. Even worse, the offer by Epic came three days after Darq’s release date trailer was released.

“I would like for my customers to have confidence that my word means something,” the post reads. “especially when making the announcement as crucial as release date/platform.

“Turning down the Epic exclusivity offer might have been a foolish decision in the short term, considering the amount of money that might have been involved. When thinking long term, however, this was an easy & obvious decision to make (in my case).”

Unfold Games also pointed out the inconsistency of the Epic Games Store, only offering non-exclusive deals to big publishers like CD Projekt, to release on multiple platforms. Though there have been some exceptions: Oxygen Not Included, by indies Klei, launched on the Epic Games Store together with it leaving Steam Early Access.

“I wish there wasn’t a double standard and indie developers were given an equal opportunity to sell their games across multiple storefronts, “ the post concludes. “So the players can enjoy what they seem to want the most: a choice.”

Darq is out now on Steam and GOG.

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